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Two-seat roadster has scissor doors and could compete with Alpine A110 EV
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–> by Chris Chilton
1 hour ago
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by Chris Chilton
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The production version of MG’s Cyberster EV concept has been spotted with zero disguise, giving us our best look yet at the electric sports car that will launch later this year.
Once famous as a British sports car brand, MG is owned by China’s SAIC these days, and is on a bit of a roll. Its HS SUV has topped the UK sales charts and the MG4 EV has been heaped with praise for doing everything the VW ID.3 can do for $10,000 less.
But the car that we’re really excited about is the Cyberster. MG showed a fairly wild looking concept electric sports car with that name in March 2021, but the real thing hits the streets in Europe and China within the next 12 months.
Thanks to patent drawings we already knew how it would look, and an earlier teaser revealed it would keep the concept’s scissor doors. But seeing the rear light treatment in full color and how the rear diffuser and side skirts contrast with the body panels definitely makes it all seem more real.
Related: MG Cyberster Delayed, Electric Roadster Now Set To Debut In April
The photo that has been circulating in Chinese social media was believed to be taken at an MG facility in China and shows a light gold roadster with its canvas hood retracted into the body to reveal the roll hoops mounted behind the two seats. Interior shots seem to show a yoke-style steering wheel mounted below a wide digital instrument panel, with a second digital display on the center console.
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In keeping with MG’s value ethos, entry-level cars will feature a single electric motor and rear-wheel drive, but a high-performance dual-motor powertrain will be optional for those hungry for more. For context the 168 hp (170 PS) single-motor MG4 EV does zero to 62 mph (100 kmh) in 7.7 seconds, but a bi-motor, all-wheel drive version with 443 hp (449 PS) and capable of getting there in less than 4 seconds is claimed to be in the works.
As for when the Cyberster is coming, a September 2022 reveal timed to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the legendary MGB would have been nice, but that deadline has passed, as has last December’s Guangzhou Auto Show, at which the Cyberster was supposed to make its debut. It now seems likely to be publicly unveiled during 2023 – some have suggested April – and then go on sale in 2024, MG’s centenary year.
It also sounds like it will be pitched further upmarket than we first imagined, and away from cars like Mazda’s MX-5 Miata. It could eventually fight cars like the upcoming electric Alpine A110 and Porsche Boxster EV, but until those cars arrive it will have the electric sports car niche all to itself.
If that move away from MX-5 territory is true it would make sense of MG’s recent decision to trademark the C EV name, the original MGC being a more expensive six-cylinder version of the MGB. That C was also a sales flop and was canned after two years, so let’s hope the new one doesn’t follow too closely in its footsteps.
